


Red Hood: Origins

by TheConcernedF0X



Category: Zootopia
Genre: Anti-Hero, Bittersweet, LOTS of violence, Multi, Tragedy, Vigilantism, sorry., supernatural element was removed due to unpopularity on my main posting site
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2019-11-12 07:07:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18006197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheConcernedF0X/pseuds/TheConcernedF0X
Summary: Every Hero, no matter what type they are, are forged. They all have a story about how they became who they are now. Jason Wilde-Todd is no different. Jason Wilde-Todd is the Red Hood, a punisher style vigilante who invokes justice upon the wicked, normally with a bullet. But as with all heros the Red Hood has a orgin, a place of birth...and this story is where it is told.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Have you all ever been writing a story and suddenly a new story concept pops into your head and won't leave till you put pen to paper so to speak? Welp this is the result of my recent ecounter with this problem.
> 
> This is an AU naturally, and it is my personal take on the DC Comics Anti-Hero, Red Hood, put in the Zootopia universe of course. There will be no Joker or Batman, just Red Hood. No bat symbols either, Red Hood is a stand alone in this story and his name and attire are basically all I am taking, the rest will be of my own creation. When I say attire I mean his base look in Injustice 2.
> 
> I will pull a lot of inspiration from other places and heros as I morph this character.
> 
> Outside of his Red Hood helmet he will be doing other things that I shan't give you a single hint of.
> 
> This is now a prologue, as it will exceed five parts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry but the story is shifting off the supernatural element and it will no longer be a factor. On FF.net which is my main posting site it received tons of thumbs down, even from top fans. So I had to change it, very sorry if the inconveniences any of you attached to the old version.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry but the story is shifting off the supernatural element and it will no longer be a factor. On FF.net which is my main posting site it received tons of thumbs down, even from top fans. So I had to change it, very sorry if the inconveniences any of you attached to the old version.

24 year old vixen Mary Todd was in labor, and as she was rushed to the delivery room she reflected on how she got here. It was nine months ago, making the month December and the start of mating season for foxes. While at a party being thrown by a 20 year old little fennec fox with a voice way to deep for his little body, she ended up meeting this stunningly handsome 18 year old fox tod with the most amazing emerald colored eyes. For as long as she would live she would never forget him, he was snarky and sarcastic at times, but he was mostly charming and funny, and oh so handsome. She would never forget his name either, Nick Wilde.

  
She hung around him for most of the party, trying to cajole him into one of the bedrooms. It was mostly her heat plus alcohol talking, but she agreed to the sentiment. He each time turned her down nicely, a few times stating he came from a more traditional fox family and that his mom had raised a gentlemammal. But as the night wore on and she got drunker it became "look you're very gorgeous and most tods would jump at the chance you're offering, but you are in heat and drunk and I don't want to take advantage of your state."

  
As the night dwindled into the early morning hours, around 1, and the party winded down she watched as he retired to a bedroom alone, quite drunk himself but not to the degree she was. She had pouted a bit in her inebriated state because nearly every other mammal, including the fennec host, had gone either into bedrooms or the nearest hotel with another mammal in tow. Leaving just her, him, and a few others not getting lucky. It bothered her immensely, so much so that after an hour she decided to go into the room he had disappeared into.

  
When she entered she quickly saw a few things that caused her to lock the door behind her. First thing was that Nick was sprawled out on the bed passed out. The second was he was completely naked. The third, the third was that he must have been having a very good dream because he was completely aroused. In the state she was in, drunk and in heat, she was very quick to take advantage of those three things. She used Nick's passed out and aroused state to sate her own desires, and 45 minutes later when she was uncoupled and satisfied she simply left the home entirely without leaving a note or anything.

  
When she awoke in the afternoon, she was hungover and couldn't remember much. But she could tell she had gotten lucky by the mess in her underwear and the fact that she wasn't feeling the effects of her heat as much. She had simply shrugged on the matter and cleaned up and then took a nice warm shower. Once done she got to finishing packing, this was her last day in Zootopia. She was moving to Ibexas having finally secured a position in the Todd family business, Todd Industries. Her father currently was the CEO of the company and it was her hopes that she could take the mantle one day.

  
Once her things were packed and on the moving truck she took a taxi to the airport and boarded the Todd private jet for the flight to Ibexas. It was halfway through said flight that the memories of just how she got lucky came back to her, and she felt nothing but shame. When she landed she tried to forget that she had done what she had to the fox named Nick Wilde. She threw herself into her work to help, well for a time, it quickly became apparent that her inaction on the matter of using Nick Wilde led to her getting pregnant with his kit.  
An abortion was out of the question, she could never find it within herself to do it despite the circumstances of how she got pregnant. Not to mention she always wanted to be a mother, sure she wanted to have a husband before the kit but life never really goes according to plan. There was no way though she would find and reach out to Nick Wilde and tell him what she did, and that he was going to be a father.

  
She was quick to face the music though with her family. They were extremely disappointed that she had gotten pregnant before marriage and was that irresponsible, her father stating that there was now no way she would take over the company, and in the end she was fine with that. Of course she simply told them she had sex with a random fox tod at a party and couldn't tell them who it was, that was much better than the truth. For foxes pregnancy outside of marriage was rare enough, pregnancy outside of relationships even more so, but even that didn't bother her.

  
So here she was now, being wheeled into the delivery room.

_(8 hours of agonizing labor later)_

  
Finally after eight hours of hard labor Mary Todd gave the final push and her kit was born with a single cry. The doctor held up her baby and exclaimed "It's a boy! What do you want to name him?"

  
Mary sank into the hospital bed with a little laugh of joy and breathily said "A boy? Jason, Jason Wilde, thats with an e at the end, Todd. Jason Wilde Todd."

  
The doctor smirked at her and began to reply "Jason, that's a real strong name. A real strong name for a real strong kit.”

Mary let out a beaming smile as the doctor and nurses were looking her kit over, cleaning him up and swaddling him in a blue blanket. But as they worked on her son there was one thing that concerning her. “Doctor Monroe, why isn’t he crying? He’s awfully quiet.”

Doctor Monroe stepped away from her kit letting the nurses take over, being finished with his checks. The kits quietness was one thing that concerned him as well, but he saw nothing to be worried about for now.

“Well Ms. Todd I’m not entirely sure, some kits after birth just don’t cry. I looked him over and saw nothing, I may run a test or two but as I said I saw nothing concerning.”

Mary let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good then, so nothing to worry about.”  
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that Ms. Todd. Now one thing is a kit that at birth doesn’t cry could be a early sign of autism. It’s about a fifty fifty chance. We won’t know until he turns four.”

“Oh..well you know what, that’s fine. If he does have autism I will love him the same and he can still lead a pretty normal life, maybe get some special gift from it. I’d rather my kit have autism then get some other disease.”

At her remark the doctor gave her an approving look. “If only more parents thought like you Ms. Todd. Now would you like to hold your son?”

Mary shot her arms out as a nurse turned towards her and stood next to her doctor, her kit cradled in their arms. “Yes please.”

The nurse smiled at Mary and pawed her son over to her. She took him into her arms and looked upon her son for the first time, he had two shining emerald orbs same as his father. Her kit smiled at her with a tiny little grin that made her coo and him giggle at the coo. His tiny tail swayed back and forth, a little black tip on it, also the same as his father…in fact, all of his colorization was like Nick, he did not have a single resemblance to her.

That fact didn’t bother her one bit, because it meant her son would grow into a smart, charming, and handsome tod. She couldn’t help herself looking at his adorable face and hugged him close to her chest. After a few moments though Jason started to wriggle uncomfortably, she let out a tired laugh at that and eased her grip. Looking at her son again he had a annoyed look on his tiny face that she couldn’t help laughing at, “oh I’m sorry but you’re to adorable.”

After that she put a parental mark on the top of his head and everything in that moment was right with the world.

( _Four years later_ )

That fifty percent chance happened. As Jason got closer and closer to the age of four Mary started to notice things that tended to happen more often. He was always a quiet kit and very inquisitive, he always squirmed when she would show him affection but also laugh. But, as he got older he became quieter and quieter, and he stopped laughing with shows of affection and instead simply squirmed away from her with a little smile.

Then, when he was three, he also stopped making eye contact. She’d look at him and he would avert his gaze and look somewhere other than her eyes. He’d move further away if she sat down on the couch and left room enough to where she would have to reach to touch him, he would move out of her reach. He also began to have trouble with emotions, more specifically showing them…it was like they became foreign concepts to him.

Anger was one he kept though. He developed a sort of anger issue, he would get frustrated or overwhelmed and then burst, growling, yelling, throwing things, things of that sort. He would calm quickly, state the reason he had that outburst, apologize, clean up if he threw stuff, and then let out a sigh, not understanding why he was having these issues.

There was other things to. Loud noises bothered him a bit, especially high pitched noises like screams. He would plaster his ears to his head and give a irritated look towards whatever was causing the noise. He wasn’t very found of bright lights either, especially of the lights flashed. He would flinch away from flashing lights, and because of his dislike of bright lights he wore specialty sunglasses quite often. He had a hard time socializing too, and went out of his way to avoid it more than any normal kit would. Then there was this tick he developed, he’d rhythmically tap his toes on his right foot on the ground in a set of three, little toe to big toe. That or he’d twitch his little and ring finger three or four times, sometimes he’d do both. The last thing was he seemed to have problems abandoning even the simplest of tasks once he had taken them up, and would throw a small fit if he wasn’t able to complete it.

The most remarkable thing though, was his intelligence. For a four year old he operated on the brain level of a ten year old. He was inquisitive, quick minded, had the ability to recognize complex patterns for his age, could solve advanced problems for his age, and appeared to have the beginnings of a photographic memory.

While it was difficult see her son become like this, she still loved him the same, and she knew he loved her. He said it a lot, would go out and pick her flowers, beautiful flowers at that, even gave her half hugs every now and then. He genuinely tried to show he cared and not come off as cold, and she could tell it bothered him that he didn’t know why he was like this.

Sadly, she was the only mammal in his life. Her parents disowned her after he was born, they had come to meet him and when her father saw that he bore no resemblance to her he had yelled at her.

“I will not have the Todd name sullied by a bastard child! I thought that if the kit at least looked like you it would be fine! But no he doesn’t look even a bit like you! So he is not my grandson! I do not recognize him as a member of the Todd family! He may have the last name but that means nothing! And you Mary are disowned! You are out of the will, you will never take over my company, you are no longer a daughter of mine! I raised you better than this! You can stay at the office in Ibexas simply because I know you earned it because I didn’t hand it to you! Diane we are leaving, let’s go!”  
  
After that her father had stormed out and her mom followed behind him, pausing at the door and turned saying, “I’m sorry sweetie…but he is beautiful.” After that her mom walked out, and she never saw or heard from either again.

There was no other family members within the Todd family that she was close enough to, to be able to introduce her son to them. Her father was an only child and his parents were just like him if not worse. His father never liked her simply because she was a vixen and not a tod, he didn’t even want her to be a member of the family business. There was no family on her moms side, both parents were gone and she to was an only child.

He did not have any friends either. In school he was a outcast because he was a fox, and a strange one at that. According to teachers though he made no attempts to make friends at all, and went out of his way to stay away from other kits more than they stayed away from him. Outside of school was more of the same, her kit just did not want to be bothered with other kits. Fine with entertaining himself, which usually consisted of him studying the mammals around him and exploring the area, studying things and asking about things he did not know about. He was genuinely interested in gaining new knowledge about everything, and he appeared to retain it all.

So with all of these things it came as no shock being in doctor Monroe’s office being told the news. “Well Ms. Todd, observing your son and running some simple tests I can confirm that he has some form of autism. But I know this information doesn’t come as a surprise to you, he’s been showing signs of it since he was two.”

Mary, sitting opposite to Dr. Monroe, nodded and replied, “yes, I’ve known this for awhile. Quiet, antisocial, not a fan of being touched, problems expressing emotion, dislike of bright lights and loud noises. All the common signs of it.”

Dr. Monroe nodded a couple of times. “Yes, those are the signs. But the question now is what type does he have.”

Mary gave him a quizzicality look “how do you find that out?”

“A series of tests should narrow it down, but my best guess would be he has a form of high functioning autism. Just based off of what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me. It’ll take a day to run all of the tests, and I will forewarn you that it will require taking him well out of his comfort zone and pushing buttons he’s not gonna want pressed. But that’s what it will take to get the full picture.”

Mary grimaced. “While I might be fine with that I doubt my little Jason will be fond of the idea.”

Dr. Monroe let out a small chuckle. “No I doubt he will. But it’s something that needs to be done. Bring him in tomorrow and we’ll get it done.”

( _The next day, Jason_ )

It was about midday and all of the tests were finished. Jason was in the office with his mom and Dr. Monroe, dressed in a red shirt, cargo pants, and a black faux leather jacket. He was sitting in the right corner of the room with his arms crossed, ears plastered to his head, head turned, and eyes averted looking at the ground… and he was NOT happy.

To start, his mom had gotten him up at 8am on a Saturday, two hours earlier than normal, so he was already in a bad mood. She helped cheer him up with some fast food breakfast, but then next thing he knew he was back at the hospital. Then to top it all off, they started to do tests, and he was NOT a fan of most of them. They tested and pushed his limits and a couple of times he was really tempted to bite a finger or two. It was especially frustrating because they hadn’t explained to him why they were doing all of these tests, what the purpose was for them.

But now for him luckily the test were done. But he was still ticked off, his mom had tried to cheer him up and used her baby voice, his reply was to give her a cold look and a huff. She gave him a pout in return but he wasn’t gonna fall for the guilt trip. His mom had let out a sigh and then stood from her crouch and went to sit at Dr. Monroe’s desk. The only bright side to all of this was he’d finally get to learn about what all of these tests were about, so as his mom sat down he perked his ears and tuned into the conversation.

“So Dr. Monroe, what are the results?”

“Well Ms. Todd, it’s what we expected…sort of. He has a form of high functioning autism, but it’s like nothing any of the specialists here have seen before.”

“ _Autism? I remember reading about it when mommy left the laptop open…that’s what’s wrong with me?”_

“How can that be Dr. Monroe? How is that possible?”  
“Well Ms. Todd, specific forms of autism are hard to peg in general, but your son is so unique in his. So much so, that it’s getting its own name, Wilde’s Autism. His is a extremely high function form of autism, we tested his cognitive abilities thoroughly and, it’s just remarkable. Advanced to semi-complex problem solving, recognition of advanced and complex patterns for his age, which seems to be his special skill, and this was with both patterns on paper and he picked up on patterns of the mammals testing him too.”

“He solves problems presented to him very quickly, longest it took him at most was a minute for a couple. He definitely has a photographic memory and amazing memory retention, we showed him and asked him several things at the beginning of the testing and he remembered it all when we asked at the very end. His intelligence is just remarkable, at the end we gave him an IQ test, an adult level IQ test, and he got an 108. A. One hundred. Eight. On a adult level IQ test. That’s just remarkable! Unprecedented for a four year old kit with autism! He definitely operates on a brain level not for his age!”

“ _So it’s not like this for other kits? Am I some sort of freak?”_

“….Doctor, I don’t know what to say to that. I mean….I knew he was intelligent, but…I mean…wow.”

*chuckles “I think that’s appropriate reaction to news like this. But there is more of course, as it comes with autism there is side effects.”

“ _This should be interesting, if I know what this autism is doing to me I can fight it._ ”

“Yes, I think I’ve noticed most of them already, and I’ve told you about them and you’ve seen some of them for yourself Doctor Monroe.”

“Yes, yes Ms. Todd, we already know about a few that he developed beforepaw, but on the basic levels. So I’d like to go through it all in depth, because there are some I doubt you’ve noticed.”

“Hm, very well then doc. Let’s here them, it would be nice to know the full extent of his limits.”

_“I agree mommy, I agree.”_

“Okay, so I will just go down the list in the order he was tested and observed. First, he has a sensitivity to light, which is one we already knew of, dislike of sunlight both indoors and out, LED bulbs brightness levels and above cause discomfort and for him to look and flinch away from the source. Flashing lights at any brightness at all cause serious discomfort to him. Jason where’s speciality sunglasses that we gave him to help him stand the brightness.

“ _So this autism is why I can’t stand the sun, bright lights, or flashing lights? And that’s why I have to wear these sunglasses?”_

“Next is his discomfort with loud noises. Decibel levels 70 and above cause Jason severe discomfort, he will plaster his ears to his head and flinch away. Long exposure to the sound will cause an outburst, growling, yelling, snarling, throwing things, and in the case of the sounds, attacking the source.”

“ _Autism is why I can’t stand loud noises too!? Urghh.”_

“Now comes his outbursts. They are actually the most minor outbursts the specialists have ever seen, he’s not as loud or as aggressive as others, also his outbursts don’t last very long. He calms quickly and not only that, he calms himself, which is something that very rarely happens. As a matter of fact, me and the specialists can’t really attribute his outbursts to the autism, because it’s not like the typical outbursts we see. It’s more like…a actual temper tantrum than anything else really. More through tests would have to be done on the subject to get a firmer grasp on it.”

“ _It’s the reason I have these stupid outbursts!? What’s those words I heard on TV?...ah that’s right, SON OF A BITCH!”_

“Well that’s..something I wasn’t expecting to hear, I’ll have to think on having him tested more to find out, not sure that’s a strain I want to put him through.”

“Of course of course. It’s not something that is totally needed, most times for forms of high functioning autism as the kit gets older the outbursts go away or at the least lessen. But since he self calms, it will more than likely be something that goes away with time. Moving on, lack of eye contact, lack of speech, and dislike of being touched are three very common symptoms in all forms of autism. For lack of eye contact, I’m sorry to say that that’ll never go away, it will lessen with time, especially with you, but he will have it for life.”

“ _This just can’t get much worse! This is why I can’t look my mom in the eyes! No! I will fight this so help me gods! I will look my mother in the eyes!”_

“Next, lack of speech. With constant work he should be able to converse semi-normally, he will be short, blunt, straight to the point, and lackluster in it if you will. But, he will speak. Then there’s the dislike of being touched, that to with work and time should lessen to a simple discomfort. With you, it will eventually not be a problem at all by my guess.”

“ _Well, that’s some good news at least. I don’t care about speaking to other mammals, but I want to talk to my mommy without it being difficult.”_

“Well that’s some good news Doctor Monroe. I doubt my little Jason will care much about how he converses with other mammals, but I can tell that it bothers him that he has trouble talking to me and doesn’t understand why. As to the touch that’s fantastic news! To hold my kit again…it’s amazing news.”

“Yes I figured you would enjoy that bit of news. Now moving forward again, his antisocial behavior, I’m not entirely sure it’s solely attributed to his autism. We put him with a group of children here for various reasons, a few of them foxes, and he stayed away from everyone in a rear corner of the room. The other foxes on the other hand, went over to him and sat down in a little semi-circle in front of him. He actually chatted with them, at one point the other kits scooted back a bit, probably because Jason didn’t like them being so close. He kept partial eye contact and his responses short, but he chatted with them the whole time. So it seems as long as they kept a respectful distance he was fine with them being there and talking with him.”

“ _Yeah I remember them, Seth, Cody, Chris, and Stephen, they were nice. And it was real nice when they scooted back when I asked. I wonder if I could hang with them again, I don’t really have friends. No kits in school or around the park are worth getting to know or hang around.”_

“Well that’s great news! I wonder if I could meet their parents, it’s important for Jason to have some friends and these are the only kits he’s given a time of day to. Maybe because they were foxes?”

“No, I’m not sure that’s it. I think it was because they were a few years older than him as well as respecting his space and genuinely being nice to him. I think their age was an important factor because they are closer to the cognitive level Jason is at, Jason has the mind of a ten year old at the cognitive level and the kits were 8 instead of 4. So with them being eight which is only a two year difference, he could converse with them more freely and have more in common. Them being foxes probably helped to simply for the fact foxes tend to stick with other foxes.”

“ _Huh, I didn’t think of that. But, he’s right, the only reason I kept talking to them is because we had more in common…so if I want to make friends it’s just gotta be older kits…maybe? I don’t know.”_

“Well that’s something to think on. But it sounds like more speculation.”

“Well Ms. Todd, that’s because it is. But I would suggest trying to have him interact with older kits and see how he does in time. For now though, I think seeing if those kits could become friends with your son is a very very good idea, having friends could help him immensely. But let’s move on, there was a few more things we noticed, one is his ticks. You’ve pointed them out to me before, and ticks are extremely common with kits with autism, but what’s important is what we didn’t see. Along with ticks, kits with autism usually sway back and forth, and chant things like nursery rhymes. But he does neither, which is incredibly odd, literally every form of autism has these two things. This to me is the main indicator of his conditions uniqueness and mystery.”

“ _Huh, that’s interesting. But that’s about it, I like my ticks.”_

“Well that’s interesting, I remember reading about swaying and chanting, and he’s never done it at home either.”

“Well there’s a small chance they might show up later, but a small one. Now there is one last thing, his problems with expressing emotions. That, I am afraid, is something he will have for life. Emotions are and will continue to be foreign concepts to him. He may know what the emotion means, what it looks like, what it’s supposed to feel like. But, when it comes to actually feeling it, he won’t….now before you get disheartened, this is only speculation based on what was observed, and what we know.. his form of Autism is unknown, so there is a chance emotion is something he might get back, if only a little. Also I will tell you this, love is one thing he will never lose, he might not know how to properly express it, but he has it and will continue to have it.”

“…I don’t know what I’m supposed to think about that…don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it either, but I guess I know why…I’m going to prove him wrong though, him and those….what was that other world?...ah, and those bastards, yeah that’s the word, those bastards who did all those stupid tests to me.”

“I. I…that’s disheartening news Dr. Monroe.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. But that’s what it looks like it’s gonna be. But remember, we could be wrong, Jason is a special and strong kit, and I got the feeling he’s going to prove a lot of mammals wrong about a lot of things”

“ _You’re godsdamn right I will.”_

“Wait a moment Dr. Monroe, what about Jason’s focus?”

“Oh yes of course! Sorry, sorry I don’t know how I forgot about that bit. Well as you’ve mentioned to me before it seemed to you that Jason had a very narrow focus, and you are completely right. Jason has an incredibly narrow focus, and a extremely hard time abandoning tasks once he’s undertaken them. We had him start several tasks and then stopped him to start on others, he wasn’t a fan. This is what caused him to have the most outbursts as well. Though if we presented him with multiple tasks he would juggle them well and complete them, it seemed his main issue was not being able to complete them.”

_“I hated that part! Here do this, wait never mind leave it be and come do this! AHHHHHH! Just let me finish!”_

“Speaking of strength, and things related to it…” since Jason was keeping his eyes averted still, he didn’t know what was happening, he was counting on them speaking to get information, heck they were probably speaking this freely because they didn’t think he could hear them. So he continued to listen, curious to why he had stopped talking. Next thing he new he heard what sounded like a jar opening. “ _What the hell?”_

Next thing he knew he heard the doctor call out his name. “Jason!”

He snapped his head up just in time to see a lollipop flying towards him and in a split second snatched it out of the air. Looking at the lollipop in his paw he saw that it was a raspberry tootsie pop, his favorite. Looking back up towards the doc and him mom he saw the look of satisfaction on the doc’s face and a look of shock on his mom’s. He shrugged, opened the lollipop, said “thank you.”, stuck or in his mouth, and then averted his gaze again.”

“What was that Doctor! Why did you throw that at him!?”

“To show a point Ms. Todd, I knew he would catch it. While we were testing him we noticed his reflexes and paw eye coordination were superb! One of the specialists knocked her coffee cup of the desk and Jason shot his paw out and caught it, not a drop hit the floor. After that happened we tested him some more and the results were the same. Best guess is his brain substituted for his mental condition by boosting his physical attributes. Again this is speculation without further testing, and I have no idea how far it goes. Honestly I could just be talking out of my ass for this particular, regardless though, it is pretty superb.”

“ _Talking out of his ass? why is it he’s either right, or farting? Why is he even…adults are weird.”_

“That’s…remarkable. I really don’t know what to say to that either. Anything else you observed or think?

“Yes, we observed one other thing that I’ve had my suspicions of for some time. All of the pain receptors in Jason’s body are fried, completely. Jason feels no physical pain.”

“ _Wait, seriously? That’s cool. That really doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”_

“Dr. Monroe how could that have happened?”

“It’s a birth defect, a fairly minor one thankfully. It’s something that can’t be fixed and it does have the potential to be dangerous. If Jason say breaks a bone, or gets a serious injury, he won’t be able to feel the injury and that has the potential to cause more damage to himself. Best counter for this is for Jason to learn about his anatomy so he will understand, oh this is a bad injury, don’t move.”

“ _Well then I will learn my.. anta anata ….whatever that word is.”_

“Okay that’s something that can be done, I think four is a little early for it so I’ll wait till he’s six. Is there anything else?”

“That’s completely fine, I think Jason has enough on his plate for now. And yes there is one final thing, I’m not entirely sure because we didn’t test it, and it’s hard to test it because of his condition. But, I think his senses might be enhanced, at the very least enhanced for a mammal with autism. In fact, I think he’s been listening in the entire time.”

“ _Uh oh, the jigs up.”_

“Jason, is that true?”

Jason looked towards his mother and forced himself to lock eyes with her and hold it, then simply nodded.

Mary put her paws over her muzzle in shock, this was something that was supposed to broken to him slowly, and who knew what was circulating in his head. Before she could say anything Dr. Monroe stood and said, “why don’t you come over here and take a seat.”

Jason shrugged and crunched the lollipop in his mouth, savoring the raspberry taste before standing, tossing the stick into a near by bin as he did. He then padded over to his mom and the doctor, internally uncomfortable at the chairs closeness to the two. Dr. Monroe must have noticed his discomfort because he walked around his desk and scooted the chair further to the left before re-taking his seat, and Jason was grateful he would no longer be sitting so close to them.

Jason reached the desk and hopped onto his chair before sitting down, glancing at Dr. Monroe noticing that Dr. Monroe jotted something down as he sat. He sat legs crossed as he didn’t like his legs dangling, it made him feel ridiculous. He glanced back and forth from his mom and Dr. Monroe, waiting for one of them to speak to him. “Come on you know I’m not gonna start the conversation.”

After a few moments his mom spoke, causing him to look at her and forcing himself to make eye contact. “Jason, sweetie. Just what did you hear?”

He kept his answer simple. “Everything.”

“Oh sweetie.” His mother leaned in to touch him before stopping herself as reflexively he averted his gaze to the floor. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and saying. “I’m so sorry sweetie, this was something that was supposed to be revealed to you slowly.”

Jason kept his gaze averted this time when he spoke. “I know….does this make me some sort of freak?”

His mom let out a gasp of horror at hearing him say that but Dr. Monroe immediately spoke.

“No Jason, it doesn’t. It makes you unique, special, it makes you different. Other mammals might think you are a freak, but it’s because they won’t understand who you are. And if we can put aside what all the other pediatricians, doctors, and normal mammals will say about you, and make them think for a moment that what if they are wrong. What if they are using the wrong tests so to speak to quantify your intelligence and the intelligence of kits with autism. If we can get them to question their expectations, and that might include that you will get married, have kits, be self-sufficient, or not. But, if we let the world set the expectations for you and other kits like you, they will start low, and they will stay there. Because you are capable of much more than you know, more capable than your mom knows, or I know, or anybody else knows. Maybe you do know and just don’t know how to tell us that, maybe you can’t. Or maybe, just maybe it’s because everyone else doesn’t know how to listen. You are not a freak or anything similar to the word, you are an amazing kit, simply different than the rest. Jason, YOU need to be the one set your own expectations on how you will live your life, and you will have your mother and I, and a whole lot of other mammals at your disposal to help you reach those expectations that you set, how simple or grand they may be.”

( _Two years later_ )

Mary noticed a change in her son, and it didn’t look like it was a good one. The first year after he diagnosed had been a overall nice one. The four fox kits that Jason had interacted with him at the hospital became fast friends with him, the four were already friends with each other and integrated Jason into their little group easily. Seth’s parents were doctors at the hospital, his mother being one of the specialists that tested Jason. Cody was there because he had broken his left arm and Chris was there for physical therapy after a right shoulder surgery. Stephen had been there for a broken left foot.

Seth was the leader of the little group and had been the one that initiated with Jason, the other kits following along and all getting along with him smoothly. Since Seth’s mom was a Autism Specialist all of the kits had a understanding of the condition and as a result knew how to interact around Jason. They four kits were around quite a lot and had helped Jason immensely. They knew when Jason speaks he would speak in a neutral and level tone with no emotion or passion in it, and be blunt with no filter or empathy. But, the kits did not mind it, they knew it wasn’t something Jason could really help, but as a result of their friendship he was speaking in more than single simple sentences. It was also a benefit for her because the mansion felt less empty with a group of five kits hanging around as well as the four’s parents were over quite often. She had hit it off with all of them quickly after she met them, and it was nice to have some friends of her own.

She pulled Jason from school after his official diagnosis and instead had him homeschooled, it was easier for him. She was tempted to send him to a school for kits with autism but he had told her no saying, “those schools are mostly run by the people Dr. Monroe warned me about.” So instead on Tuesdays and Thursday’s he went to a private institution he had selected. It was something he did a lot, making his own decisions on things that could impact his condition, stating “I’m setting my own expectations like I was told.”

The change in her son came after his sixth birthday, they had gone into town to celebrate with his friends and everything seemed fine at the time. She had taken them to a place called Buster and Dave’s a large sort of arcade, she normally wouldn’t have taken Jason to a place like it. They place was loud, crowded, with lots of bright and flashing lights, all places her kit preferred to avoid. But he had recently been given special contacts that worked a lot like his specialty sunglasses, and they were especially made so he could tolerate the bright and flashing lights better. Jason solved the noise problem with speciality ear plugs and had told her he would grin and bear the crowds.

While they were there he kept with his group of friends or in the party room she had rented out with her. He was always with at least one of the mammals he came there with, until he had to use the bathroom. He had gone by himself as none of his friends had to go and had claimed to only be gone for a minute…when it hit ten minutes everyone started to wonder and Seth went to go check on Jason, he quickly came back yelling for help. He found Jason unconscious and bloody in a stall, he had been jumped. She and the rest of his friends ran into the bathroom, Seth had called out to someone who worked there after he discovered Jason and the wolf was in there tending to Jason while on the phone with 911.

By the time they had entered the wolf was telling Jason to stay down as he had regained consciousness. She had maintained her composure just barely and Seth, the trooper he was took to questioning Jason on what happened. Jason had claimed it had been three mammals, male teens in their 20s, a zebra, wolf, and cougar. Jason hadn’t heard them sneaking up on him because of the ear plugs, but once they jumped him he got the reasoning of why they were attacking him, he was a fox and a weird one at that. He also said he recognized the three, he had noticed them before watching him and his friends and then figured they must have been following them and when he split off and went to the bathroom they took the opportunity.

It was hard for her and the employee to fathom that the mammals committed a brazen attack in such a public place, Jason had mentioned though that the three reeked of alcohol.. Luckily for her, public meant cameras and the three were identified and caught, they had fled the place after jumping Jason but it didn’t keep them from Justice for long. Jason had been taken to the hospital and sustained a broken nose, a left orbital fracture, moderate concussion, and some serious bruising all over his body.

After that day, her son was never the same. It’s seemed the accident set him back on his progress, he was quieter and more antisocial, preferring to stay in and not go out. He drew into himself more than ever before, his sentences went back to simple and short, everything he had made progress in seemed to have been reset. The only things that he seemed to have kept was his eye contact and being touched.

When there was no choice in the matter of going out he would be extremely paranoid and cautious. As if he assumed every mammal around him was just waiting to jump him. He was acting so differently she hired a mammal to watch over him when she wasn’t there, a sort of personal butler for him, a kind otter named Alfred. He would take all of Jason’s orders and report to her. Jason got along well with Alfred, and spoke to him more than he spoke to her. Then again he spent more time with Jason than she could, running the Ibex branch of Todd Industries was time consuming work, and she hated being away from Jason so much.

Jason also decided he wanted to learn how to fight and defend himself. She found him in the den one night on her laptop, flipping through page after page, link after link. She had asked him what he was doing and he had stated “Learning to fight, styles and teachers.” Which translated to “I want to learn to fight, I’m looking for fighting styles and teachers.” She didn’t object to it, it would be good for him she thought. He also had money to buy anything he wanted, she was rich and she spoiled him. He didn’t buy many things for himself, mostly small things and this would be his first large purchase. He ended up settling on two fighting styles, Hapkido and Taekwondo, two very common fighting styles in MMA. Then he found two esteemed masters to come and teach him, he learned quickly. Within a year in a half he earned official brown belts in both.

For him to do that, he had to power through his condition, and it’s something he also did very well. One day, a month or so after he was jumped she came home on a Thursday to find him at home shirtless and punching a punching bag while wearing red MMA gloves. Thursday’s he was supposed to be at the institution, as she was walking over to question him on it Alfred intercepted her and said, “Madam Todd, I would practice caution, he’s in a mood.”

  
“Why is he here? He should be at the institution Alfred!”

“He dropped out of the institution, the only thing he said to me when I asked was ‘I’m setting new expectations.’”

After that she had stormed over to her six year old kit and said in a raised tone, “Jason Wilde Todd! Why is Alfred telling me you dropped out of the institution!?”

Jason hadn’t even stopped what he was doing and just glanced her in her direction and spoke the longest he ever had to her. “They taught me all they could, now it’s time I taught myself. They kept me in a sensory-friendly environment, no bright lights, no loud noises, etcetera. Well if bright lights and loud noises bother me I need more of them not less. The world isn’t a sensory friendly place, not a very nice place in general either, and that’s where I need to live, not trapped in some bubble of safety because of some stupid condition. The world isn’t going to conform to me, so I have to conform to it and to do that I need two things. I need to show some sense of normalcy, because mammals don’t like or dislike me, those mammals didn’t attack me just because I was a fox, they attacked me because I’m different, and sooner or later different scares mammals. That means to show that sense of normalcy I have to learn to tolerate the bright lights and the loud noises, the crowds, all of it, and for emotions I’ll fake it till I make it.

“Secondly, I need to know how to defend myself. The world has already proven it’s not a fan of me, I’m both a fox and I’m not normal, that’s a double whammy. So I need to be able to fight back, efficiently. I need to be able to take down a rhino by myself because there may come a day I will have to. I have already picked out two more fighting styles to further master grappling, takedowns, CQB, and things of the like. Judo and Jiu Jitsu. I also plan on learning knife and gun play, sometimes a fist isn’t gonna solve the problem. These are the new expectations I am setting for myself, and I will also be advancing my education. Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management.

Mary had been speechless, flabbergasted. It took her a minute of opening and closing her mouth before she finally formulated enough of a coherent thought for her to speak. “Jason, what gave you this sort of view?”

Jason gave her a side glance again and without missing a beat said, “you leave the news on to much.” After that he punched the bag once more and then walked off without another word, Alfred following quickly behind him.

_  
(Another two years later)_

Jason kept true to his word. In another year and a half he earned official brown belts in Judo and Jiu Jitsu, and once they were in hand he immediately started two more fighting styles. They were exotic and rare forms, styles that very rarely left the areas from which they originated from. The first was Krav Maga, it was a self defense fighting method created for the Israel Defense Forces and very rarely left Israel, well on the whole level, the basic level of Krav Maga had made it around the world including The Mammilian States. Jason found a retired IDF combat instructor who was a master of Krav Maga living in the states, a honey badger by the name of David. Jason paid him a nice sum to come and train him, and he lived in a guest room in the mansion.

The second was a even more exotic fighting style called Pencak Silat. It was a fighting style out of Indonesia, it had spread throughout Asia but had not spread past that point. Well, until Jason payed a handsome some for a master to come from Indonesia and teach him. The master was a Sumatran Tiger named Khan and was also set up in a guest room. This fighting style was particularly difficult for him, and he was constantly thrashed in spars. Normally after six months he could hold his own, he wouldn’t win of course, but he wouldn’t get his ass handed to him either. But six months in he was still getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter.

Jason alternated the two styles through six days of the week, each day training for six hours. Tuesday’s, Thursday’s, and Sunday’s were the days for Pencak Silat. Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s were the days for Krav Maga. Saturday’s was the only day he took off from training, Saturday’s was the days he hung out with Seth, Cody, Chris, and Stephen. It was a Sunday and once again Jason was getting his ass handed to him, he was only five hours in and he had just been taken down for about the tenth time in a spar and Khan was calling for a stop.

“Enough, we are finished for today.”

Jason started to force himself to rise after being slammed to the ground, blood coming out of several cuts he’d collected during today’s sparring. “No, I’m not finished.”

Khan crossed his arms and replied, “tomorrow’s another day. You have done your best.”

Jason rose to one knee and looked up at Khan and retorted back. “If that was true you would be sporting cuts and I would be sporting less. So let’s keep going.”

Khan did not budge in his stance even a little, non verbally saying that it wasn’t going to happen.  
Jason gave him a hard look and said, “aggression correctly channeled overcomes a lot of flaws. Tapping into that aggression requires me to pull back several layers of myself. It is my job to know my own limitations, and it’s your job to peel. I have another hour so do your job.” After he was finished speaking Khan finally relented and the sparring continued.

Jason also kept true to his word about his education. He would alternate the subjects he had picked throughout the entire week, eight hours of the day, everyday, with breaks of course. Monday’s he learned about engineering, both mechanical and technical, four hours for both. Tuesday’s were for mathematics, but only the types that he would actually need. Wednesday’s were for computer science, Thursday’s were for biology, Friday’s for anatomy, Saturday’s for chemistry, and Sunday’s were for business management. Jason did not believe in common core or standardized testing, saying it was like asking a fish, elephant, monkey, and a jaguar to climb a tree and their ability to do so would define their intelligence. Not to mention 98% of it was things he would never actually need in life. Jason had this schedule, and it was something he would keep to for quite a time.


	2. Chapter 2

(Ten years later)

Jason Wilde Todd kept true to his word, when he set that schedule for himself he adhered to it without fail up until he considered he had it mastered. Then of course he went along from there. Jason was sixteen now, and a lot of things had changed, he matured naturally being now almost fully grown, currently standing at four feet four inches. His weight was one hundred and twenty pounds, his physique was lean but with lots of visible muscle due to non-stop workouts everyday for ten years. His mental capacity had changed as well, IQ was now a 177 and he had certified bachelors degrees in Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management.

Jason also in his opinion achieved mastery of himself. He had worked extra hard to make sure his autism was not gonna control him or have a large defining character on him. He worked every night to get it to where it is now and continues to work to make sure it stays that way. To do that Jason developed an effective routine to achieve and keep the goal he set. When the sun would go down Jason would retire to his room 10pm on the dot, he would turn of the main lights and then sit on the foot of his bed. Next he would pick a little remote he kept at the foot of his bed and flick on a device that sat on his dresser. The device would come on and immediately begin blaring death metal music, high pitched noises, gunshots, and other various noises at over 240 decibels, well and plenty over the limit of sound that causes him severe discomfort. At the same time the noises played LED lights built in would strobe and flash at high intensities that even regular foxes would flinch away from. Jason would stare right at the device for exactly one hour, then a timer would go off and he would flick off the device.

At the age of sixteen if he had a clear head going in he could get through it with no problem, if not….he was liable to have an outburst. As the years went by he added a third element trying to stimulate his nerves, because as he got older that nerve damage that burned his pain receptors started to spread. The doctors were able to stop it of course, but his ability to physically feel was dampened, stimulating his nerves every night helped gain back moderate feeling. Basically now he couldn't feel tiny things like say a spider crawling up his leg, which had happened a couple of times, didn't even feel the little bastard until they were sitting on his snout. For those couple of times Jason was no longer a fan of spiders.

Of course it wasn't always easy, when he had started this exercise he couldn't get to ten minutes without caving. It took almost all of the ten years to get it to where it was now. As far as speaking went he was still blunt, short, and to the point with no emotion put into it for the most part, he could of course fake it but as it was now he rarely chose to. He could now hold an extended conversation as well, so far 45 minutes was his record. As far as emotions went, he could feel them much more than before and grasped their general concept. But, as far as expressing emotions went that was still something he really didn't have, it was still a foreign concept to him. He knows how he feels, but as far as expressing it goes, he just didn't know how. Not that it mattered much to him anyway.

His social and family life definitely changed over the past ten years. Alfred was gone, he had fired him three years ago when he discovered Alfred was really just spying on him for his mom, giving her daily progress reports on him. He was infuriated when he discovered Alfred giving one such report, he felt betrayed among other things. So he lashed out in anger and cast Alfred from the mansion and then his mother had gotten an ear full when she had returned. Her mother tried to discipline him but it was never her strong suit and she caved on it after fifteen minutes. She tried her best to convince him to let Alfred back into the fold but Jason was as firm on it then as he was now. Alfred had betrayed his trust and lied to him, so that ended that.

His group of friends were gone to. Not by anything they did, or him for that matter. No them leaving was a good thing and he was damn proud of that thing. They had started a Metalcore band called Waging War and it had taken off, they even got signed to a record label. So they had left Ibexas to go on tours and set up shop in Zootopia. Of course if they rolled through Ibexas they always made sure to stop by. Them leaving had been about six years ago. They stayed in touch of course, and Jason got VIP access to merchandise, tickets, anything really. So yeah, he didn't mind them being gone, they were pursuing their dreams.

As far as family life went, well ...his grandmother had paid a visit a year ago and it was ...an interesting visit.

(One year ago)

Jason had just finished another set in his daily workout routine when he heard the doorbell ring. Jason looked in the general direction of the front door in with a head tilted in confusion. He hadn't ordered any food, there was no packages scheduled to be delivered today, and it definitely wasn't his mother because she was at work and even if she wasn't she never forgot her keys. It also couldn't be any solicitors because the neighborhood they lived in didn't allow them to enter. So the question remained who was at the door.

Jason stood and padded over to the chair he had tossed his shirt on and threw it back on, pausing to take a swig from a water bottle that was on the patio table. Once he was done he put the bottle back down on the table and padded inside. Once he was back inside he walked over to the security office and walked in, going over to the monitor displaying all of the security camera feeds. A couple of clicks is all it took to pull up the front door camera to full screen to get a better look at the mammal at the front door.

What he saw surprised him greatly, though the only way he could show it was by raising his eyebrows. At the door looking sheepish and prehensive was an older red vixen, and this particular older vixen looked just like an older version of his mother. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that this vixen at the door was his grandmother. At this development Jason narrowed his eyebrows, his mother had told him the story of why they weren't in his or his mothers lives…so his opinion of them weren't fond.

Jason exited the security office and made his way to the front door. Once he was there he paused for a moment to take a deep breath, he didn't want to come out of the gate harsh, he would at least see what she had to say. Jason opened the front door exposing himself to the grandmother he has never met. When he opened the door, he saw his grandmother jump back in surprise at his sudden appearance and clutching her red purse tighter. He just stood there as she took him in, looking at him from head to toe. He just stood there and allowed her to do it and after a minute he saw her swallow hard and with a little bit of nervousness in her tone spoke to him.

"We..well…look at you. You're all grown up. You look so strong."

Jason simply raised an eyebrow and in his signature neutral tone bluntly said, "Of course I'm grown up, that tends to happen when you haven't seen someone since the day they were born. And yes I am strong, I've worked out every day, eight hours a day, since I was six. You can come inside, my mother, your daughter, will be home in a few hours." After that he simply turned and padded towards the kitchen, intent to get himself a glass of juice.

He couldn't see his grandmother's reaction. She took a step back shocked and aghast at his bluntness and cold, neutral demeanor. But then again she felt it was deserved, he was right after all, she hadn't seen him since birth. So she put on a brave face and walked inside.

She quickened her step to catch up to Jason, who she watched twitch his left ear back towards her, but otherwise didn't acknowledge her following him.

Once they were in the kitchen she watched as Jason grabbed two glasses from a cupboard and then went over to the fridge and opened it. As he was rummaging through it for the juice he casually said "My names Jason by the way. In case you never got it before you and my grandfather charged out of the hospital room and out of my mother and I's lives."

Jason's grandmother recoiled in shock at her grandsons cold statement. She with a little hurt in her voice replied. "I knew that Jason. I knew that."

Jason finally found the juice, strawberry orange banana juice, and pulled it out. Turning and saying with a blank face "Oh good you at least learned that." Jason took in the look of shock on his grandmothers face as he lured the juice into both glasses halfway before returning it to the fridge. As he turned back he saw the look of shock change to a look of hurt and sadness and he let out an internal sigh before saying "look I apologize for my coldness but I can't help it. I have a high functioning form of autism. Lack of showing emotion, especially in speech is a side effect. Of course you would have known that had you been in my life. But you know, even if I didn't have autism I still think I would be acting cold and you know damn well why. But here's a moment of honesty, I could care less that you weren't in my life, I had my mom and that's all I needed. I'm pissed because you cut your own daughter out of your life, threw her out like a piece of trash. You know she still cries sometimes because of you and her dad?...so there's that….(he holds out the glass), Juice?"

Jason's grandmother just sat there, looking at him and utter shock at his blunt delivery of his opinion of her. Then it quickly changed to one of sadness, her grandsons hatred of her was more than justified. But yet, he only knew one side of the story. Maybe if he heard why she stayed away his tune would change a little. But if not, her grandson was secondary, she was here for her daughter….she had read the letter Mary had sent her, she hadn't even shown her husband it. He probably would have just torn it up and said good riddance. So no she kept it to herself, lied and told him she was going on a trip for a week, and then had gotten in her car and driven straight here. Because she was determined to see her daughter while her daughter still had time left. So she needed to push through her hurt because she deserved it, so she put on a brave face and set to try and connect with her grandson.

First she reached out a paw to take the glass of juice, as she did she muttered a "thank you." Jason simply nodded and took a sip from his glass. She put the glass up to her nose to sniff and Jason said, "its strawberry orange banana."

At that she nodded and took a sip, it was good so she took another and set the glass down and saying "what you said is fair, I was a fool to think I would receive a warm welcome from you. And I'm sorry about your diagnosis, it must be hard."

Jason nodded and replied, "it was in the beginning, very hard. Couldn't stand loud noises, bright lights, couldn't make eye contact with anyone, no physical contact either. It took a long time but all of that is now under control, and I achieved that through hard work and determination."

Jason's grandmother nodded a few times and said "that's…quite impressive." To which Jason simply relied with A "mhmm" and another sip of his drink.

After a few moments of awkward silence, well at least for her, Jason's grandmother chimed in and said "my name is Diane by the way."

Jason nodded and said, "I knew that grandmother, and your husband's name is Desmond, my grandfather. Is he coming by chance? I wanna knock him out for the way he's talked to my mother, his daughter."

Diane gave him a look of frozen shock and a couple of blinks. It took a minute but once the shock subsided she slowly replied "no…he's not coming…he doesn't even know I'm here…"

Jason gave her a level look and said "that's a shame then, pray tell why doesn't he know you're here?"

Diane let out a sigh and replied "because he wouldn't have let me come here if I told him my intentions ...look Jason I didn't want to abandon you and I sure as HELL did not want to abandon my daughter. But Desmond said she was disowned and I was not to contact either of you, I couldn't dare defy him. Your mother may have told you stories about him but at best they're probably watered down, he's not the one you want to make angry ..." She was going to continue telling him her side of the story but his movements stopped her.

Jason walked around the island and sat next to his grandmother. He reluctantly took one of her paws in his own and said "look grandmother. If he really is how you say, and by the stories I've heard Controlling, abusive, narcissistic, misogynistic, and among other things..why don't you leave him? If he really controls every aspect of your life and doesn't let you have a say and hits you if you don't follow it, disobey him, or displease him…why stay? And he's keeping you away from your only child and grandkit, won't let you see them or contact them, won't even recognize them as family….seriously why stay? Divorces may be super rare for foxes but that doesn't mean they don't happen, and all of these things I've listed sounds like the right reasons to divorce him. Is it because your afraid of him? If it is don't be, you could easily live here after you make amends with my mother, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it, and if he tried anything I'd crush him into the ground. I have brown belts in four different styles of martial arts, I also do MMA and Kickboxing. He wouldn't be able to touch you without that part coming back to him broken. So why stay?"

Diane looked at her grandson with shock for what felt like the hundredth time in the minutes she'd known him, it even almost sounded like there was some compassion in his voice. Diane also couldn't help thinking."No wonder he looks so strong." Diane then sighed and looked to the floor and replied "because despite all of it. I still really love him."

At that reply Jason released his grandmothers paw and stood, his coldness returning as he retorted with, "then you're a damn fool." After that, he turned and walked away, leaving his grandmother sitting there reeling.

Jason kept to himself for the next two and a half hours, he knew his grandmother was still there by scent. He knew she was here to see her daughter, he knew why too, so he knew his grandmother wasn't going anywhere. After the two and a half hours his mother was home and he gave them a few hours alone to talk, after all they had a lot to talk about. After about four hours he heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Before his mom could even ask anything knock Jason called out "you both can come in." He let out an amused huff when he heard his grandmother whisper "how did he know we were here? The floors carpet." He let out another when his mom said out loud "Jason's senses are above average." Followed by her opening the door and walking in. Diane stood in the doorway an extra few seconds before letting out a "huh" and then walking in.

Jason was sitting on the foot on his bed and he simply gestured to the two chairs he set in front of him, he had felt this was coming today. Jason's mom and grandmother took their seats and for a minute there was silence. He could see his mothers reluctance and trepidation, he was going to try and nudge things along and break the ice but his grandmother beat him to it by starting it off on a different topic. She gestured to his at the time associates degrees hanging on the wall and asked "are those what I think they are?"

Jason simply nodded a few times and said "yeah those are my associates degrees. Just got em last week. They are for Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management."

His grandmother just blinked twice and said "you have six associates degrees ...at 15? How?"

Jason shrugged and casually replied "I have an IQ of 177 and never went through the stupid common core. Since I was six I've studied these subjects, each subject got a day and eight hours of that day up to now, and it will go past that. I want them to be bachelors before moving on to something else."

Diane just leaned back a little and murmured "you really are something."

Jason just shrugged and replied "if I wasn't something I'd be nothing."

Diane kept chatting with him for about fifteen minutes, just trying to learn about her grandson. The Whole time this was happening Jason answered her questions, but he kept an eye on his mom, watching and waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to tell him what she had to. Eventually after the fifteen minutes he could tell his mom had pumped herself up enough to get her news across to him. Jason's grandmother seemed to have noticed it to and she brought the current topic to a close and took her daughters paw in hers. When that happened Jason sensed the sudden shift in demeanor, and in that moment, Jason had to decide how he would react to the news. In his mind he had to options, act shocked and devastated ...or bluntly tell them he's known for years…and after thinking on it for a moment he made his decision…bluntness was his specialty after all.

Jason watched as his mother took a deep breath and looked at him, and after a moment of pause said "Jason, there's something I need to tell you…something that I've been keeping a secret for awhile now."

Jason just nodded twice and said with his signature bluntness "you have cancer. You were diagnosed three years ago and have been fighting ever since in secret, not wanting to worry me. It started in your pancreas and has since spread to your liver, lungs, kidneys, and lastly your brain in this past year. Doctors told you that it's now untreatable, and ultimately fatal. They say best guess is you'll last another year, and I've already come to terms with that as best I can. I've been preparing for this possibility that past three years after all."

He could tell he had blown both their minds, his moms of course more so. The best way he could describe what he was seeing was a fish out of water. His mom was rapidly opening and closing her mouth, trying to formulate a single thought since he had just absolutely blown it out. It took several minutes for his moms brain to reboot and even then she barely got out a "h. h .h .ho..how?"

At that Jason couldn't help but let out a short little chuckle and then he replied "You've always been bad at keeping secrets, I got suspicious in the first month of your diagnosis. You were gone a lot longer, you were coming home way more tired, then I started seeing hospital bills in the mail regularly. After that I all I had to do was tune in on a call with your doctor to know. I never told you that I knew because I knew you wanted to tell me on your own time, and you didn't want to worry me with the news in the beginning especially if you could beat it. Honestly it allowed me to process the information on my own time, and prepare myself for the possibility of you passing from cancer."

After his explanation the conversation continued for several hours before coming to a close. This memory of course led him to the most important change in his life, his mom was gone. She succumbed to her cancer two weeks ago, luckily she passed peacefully in her sleep. Since her passing he had stopped speaking, he found no real reason to have to as there was no one worth speaking to. Her passing is why right now he was busy unpacking his bags at the local orphanage where he would remain until his eighteenth birthday. But, unbeknownst to him, a blacked out SUV was in route to collect him…and it wasn't for a good reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done! Awww really Concern!? your gonna leave us on a cliffhanger like that!?
> 
> why yes, yes I am. *ducks from incoming barrage of pinecones*
> 
> Anyways, this was a sort of somber chapter to kinda catch us up to the present Jason finds himself in, and build up suspense and anticipation for the next one.
> 
> But alas! you shall have to wait until my next chapters of A Father Figure and A True Brother: The Prologue to come out before I put out the next chapter of this story. But all is not lost! this means you can check out my other two stories if you have not to bide time until this next chapters completion! So keep an eye out for those new chapters in the coming weeks!
> 
> So until then this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! see you next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Yeah you! The person reading this! Like my stories? Want me to stay on top of them more here on Ao3? THEN LEAVE A COMMENT! GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACK! Leaving comments is about the only way I can gauge how my stories are doing on this site! I will reply to all comments! Unless you're being a troll.
> 
> So I'm very sorry that I've neglected my stories on this site. But if you want that to change, you know what to do. 
> 
> Story time!

Major General David Daggermane was a 47 year old aged lion and a lifetime soldier. He had fought many battles and won them all, and was well rewarded and decorated because of it. Right now, he was in the back of a blacked out SUV, a lit cigar in his mouth, and on his way to collect a mammal. One of his assistants, a female deer psychologist named Adrianna Telvanni , was sitting across from him looking a photo of the mammal they were collecting. She had a few questions she just had to ask.

"Sir, why in the world are we on the way to collect a _fox_? And why does this _fox_ require us to actually collect him in person? Why not collect him the same way we've collected all the others?"

Daggermane chuckled at his assistants stream of questions about going to collect this fox. Mostly because of her blatant distaste simply at saying the word fox, he didn't hold the same sentiment about it as her. Taking a long drag from his cigar he leaned forward and took the photo back from her and turned it to look upon the mammal they were going to collect and said. "I'll answer in the order you asked. We are collecting a fox, and this fox in particular because he is incredibly unique, and the hyena will want to use him for his particular experiments I'm sure. He will also be well suited for our experiments, trials and such. I actually think he'll be out top contender for the solo position."

Adrianna scoffed and replied "what makes this fox so unique, and what makes this fox so well suited that you think he'll be a 'top contender'?"

Daggermane chuckled again before saying, "this fox is so unique because he has an incredibly rare form of high functioning autism. It's made him incredibly intelligent and adaptive. Advanced problem solving, photographic memory, superb memory retention, and the ability to recognize, decipher, and solve incredibly advanced and complex patterns. That INCLUDES the patterns of mammals. This alone will peak the mad doctors interest. He also can't feel physical pain, his pain receptors are fried. This fox will be his favorite toy to run all of his tests and experiments I'm sure. What makes him so well suited is that at 16 he has seven bachelors degrees and official brown belts in seven different martial arts. Hapkido, taekwondo, Judo, Jiu jitsu, Krav Maga, Pencak Silat, and Kali."

Adrianna gave him a look of utter shock as he broke down this fox's abilities she could only let out a surprised. "Oh."

Daggermane took another drag from his cigar and leaned back into his seat. "Yeah, oh indeed. He's gonna be hard to dethrone from the top of our board. Now as to why we are collecting him personally…his full name is Jason Wilde Todd."

Adrianna recovered from her shock and replied. "Well that explains it, he's the son of that Todd that just died and is in an orphanage. You wanna assure you can take him in a way it's not suspicious and such."

Daggermane snuffed out his cigar as he simply said "correct."

The third occupant in the back of the SUV, sitting next to the doctor had kept quiet during the entire trip so far. He was the head of security at the facility, and thus was asked to come with the general to collect this fox. As the General had stated he would more than likely be a security issue and cause a lot of problems because of the fox's skill set. The General also believed this fox would be the one to be the first to try and escape the facility. He looked forward to the fox trying, or any of the mammals they had gathered for that matter. He looked forward to a lot of things, like watching the mad hyena doctor do his experiments and tests on the fox. The hyena hated foxes even more than he and the doctor did.

Thinking about not mad Doctor he looked over at her, they had a…..interesting relationship. And by relationship he meant they spent copious amounts of time aggressively fucking. Not that he didn't mind, he licked his lips just thinking about what he was going to do to her later and have her a predatory smile when she glanced at him. But cut it short when the General looked back their way so me mused on her role in this. Her role as the phycologist was to observe all of the subjects through this giant experiment and all other trails and experiments in between, excluded the mad doctors of course. She would observe and evaluate all of the subjects and advise how they were reacting and coping mentally. She also would advise on how best to manipulate the subjects. Finally she had some extra duties regarding this fox now, and he could tell she wasn't excited about it and nor was he.

But, at the same time he had to admit this fox's skill set was indeed impressive. He also and to admit the extra steps the General was taking for this fox in the end made sense. If everything about this fox was indeed true he could end up being a prime candidate for everything they had planned and a royal pain in the ass at the same time. Also it meant when the fox became a pain in the ass he would get to punish the fox, and oh he would very much enjoy that. But as much as he will enjoy that and watching the mad hyena run his experiments and tests on the fox. There was one thing he had to bring up, so the grey wolf spoke.

"General, how we can be sure the mad scientist isn't going to end up killing this fox? You know he HATES foxes, hell he got fired from the government in the first place for running all those nasty experiments on foxes that ultimately killed them in the first place."

General Daggermane nodded and replied "I had the same concerns which I brought to that mad hyena along with the foxes profile. He looked it over and giddily said in his German accent 'zis fox is too tantalizing to kill! No! ze experiments I can run on him! So many! So much data! So many options! Killing him would be counterproductive zes! Ze fun I will have with ze fox!' I made sure to warn him he wasn't to break or cripple the fox either. He simply hugged the file and said 'of course! Of course! No breaking ze fox!'"

Doctor Telvanni raised an eyebrow at that. "Do you honestly believe that mad hyena?"

The grey wolf chuckled and said, "I know I wouldn't."

General Daggermane gave both mammals a blank look and replied, "Of course I don't trust him you two. We call him the mad doctor for a reason, but he's too useful to not keep. Which is why you Derek Southhowl will have two guards watching the mad doctor whenever the fox is being ...examined."

The grey wolf, now identified Derek Southhowl nodded and said "I'll see to it. Just for the fox?"

General Daggermane thought on it for a moment and said, "on second thought, better do it for them all."

Doctor Telvanni added her two cents in saying "good, that hyenas is as unpredictable as he is a genius. I can't evaluate the psychological aspects of the subjects after a session with the mad doctor if he kills them."

Security Chief Southpaw nodded and said, "quite right Adrianna."

General Daggermane rolled his eyes at the two. He knew they were fucking despite their attempts at hiding it. But they must often forget that there are cameras literally all over the facility, not just where the subjects would be held. Regardless, he didn't care as long as it didn't affect their respective works and they kept it professional. "Yes yes I know you two. We've taken all the proper precautions for the mad hyena. I even instructed some of your mammals to install cameras in his lab. He will be monitored closely. Now that that's settled, can we get back to the topic at hand?"

Adrianna and Derek both nodded, Derek saying "yes, so what's the plan to get this fox to come with us?"

Daggermane nodded a few times. "Well for starters, we will lay out his predicament for him. Then I will tell him of a 'military project' we are working on and think he would make a perfect candidate for. I'll tell him this project will train him to be an advanced military specialist. We'll tell him that when he turns 18 he can leave the project or stay and join the military. Of course that part will be extra bullshit. But, we will have to be very careful. This particular fox may not pick up on social queues very well.. But he is a smart fox, if he picks up something is off we're screwed. That means he'll decline the offer and then that means we'll have to take him by force which will complicate a lot of things and honestly unless you pull a team Southhowl I actually doubt we would be able to acquire him. So you two better be careful with what you say. Although, we might be in some luck. The mammal in charge told me when I called apparently after his mother's funeral Jason stopped talking, so if it's true he shouldn't ask any questions. Now settle in, we should be there soon."

_20 minutes later_

They finally arrived at the orphanage, a quaint two story brick building. They didn't bother looking at the name, they didn't plan to be here long enough to care. Walking in they were immediately greeted by the headmistress of the orphanage a female badger. They were also greeted by the sight of a male wolf and deer, both of them sporting fresh injuries. The deer was holding a paper towel to his very clearly broken nose and the wolf was lying on its stomach a rhino sized ice pack on his back and the left side of his face swollen up.

The badger greeted them. "Hello you definitely must be Major General Daggermane, and colleges. I'm so glad you've arrived here. Jason needs to go, or he's going to be arrested and a problem."

The group gave each other collective looks before Derek eyed the two mammals again. Pointing at them he said "I take it Jason did this?"

"Yes very perceptive of you. He wasn't even here an hour. Chad here definitely has at least one cracked vertebrae and you can clearly see Daniel's nose is broken badly. I don't know exactly what happened. Jason of course isn't saying anything and these two are in too much pain to give me a straight answer. I was actually just about to look at the security footage to try and make heads or tails of this. Care to join me?"

Once again they collectively looked at each other before nodding. Daggermane took the lead saying, "lead the way."

The badger led them into a small room with a desk, computer, and a chair which she sat in. As she typed away to pull up the security footage Doctor Telvanni had a question of her own. "You said you questioned Jason on what happened?"

The badger glanced at her and said "correct."

Adrianna pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. "Could you explain to me exactly how he reacted when you questioned him?"

The badger gave her a quizzical look regarding the pen and pad of paper as a response. "Oh, I'm a resident psychologist, considering Jason's condition and the fact he just lost his mother the general thought I could be of some help."

Satisfied with the explanation the badger answered her question. "Best way I could describe it is he was impassive honestly. When I started to question him he turned to me halfway and when I got to the subject of just what happened he let out a snort and that's about it. So I focused on his eyes, they were completely neutral same as his expression. When I explained just what injuries they had I could swear though for the briefest of moments I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes. But he stayed blank and expressionless the entire time."

Doctor Telvanni jotted down her notes, making sure to underline the part about his potential look of amusement at hearing about the two mammals injuries. " _Interesting_."

Finally the badger pulled up the correct camera and time. "Ah here we are."

All of the mammals present leaned forward to watch the screen as the badger hit the play button. It started with Jason entering the commons room, a black duffel bag in his left paw. The noted his attire, a red shirt, a brownish tan faux leather jacket, and tan cargo shorts. As he entered the wolf and deer almost immediately got up and approached him, Adrianna could tell immediately just off body language and such that the two did not have good intentions. She also could tell Jason was very aware of the fact and less than pleased.

They watched as the two began speaking to Jason, them occasionally pausing to laugh at the joke they made about him. It continued like this for about two minutes before there was a sudden shift in Jason's behavior he slowly put down his duffel bag and put his sunglasses that were on his head on top of it. They watched as the wolf and deer laughed at his actions…it was short lived. Jason shot out a savage right jab right into the deer's nose shattering it in one punch. He then instantly put a right hook into the left side of the wolf's face, grabbed the wolf's shoulders and pulled him close and kneed him hard in the ribs. To finish the wolf off Jason grabbed his shoulders and picked the wolf up off the ground slightly and then spun him, letting him go after a half rotation. The wolf slammed into a wooden beam hard, part of its spine catching the edge badly.

Derek Southhowl was impressed. The fox took the deer down and shattered its nose with a single punch, and then took out the wolf with minimal effort. Even if the two had fought the fox Southhowl wagered it would have been the same result, just with extra steps. "This fox has strength, one punch and he shatters a deer's nose and unless that wolf has weak skin swelled its face real good. The throw was simple yet effective. Not to mention the little effort it took to throw the wolf.

General Daggermane was just as impressed. _"I knew this fox was going to be something special."_

The video ends with Jason calmly putting his sunglasses back on his head and picking his bag back up before stepping over the two mammals. The badger headmistress leaned back in the chair and gestured to the screen. "So that's what happened. Chad and Daniel instigated the fight. I wonder what they said that made Jason snap, he seemed to not care up until that point."

Doctor Telvanni chimed in at that. "I do. I can read lips quite well, they were speaking ill of Jason's recently deceased mother."

The headmistress made a face and said, "sheesh, yeah that would do it I wager. Well, even so that he didn't start it, he still needs to go. I feel like a lot of trouble will come of him being here, a lot of mammals heckling him and provoking him into attacking them."

The General nodded at that and replied, "well we'll take him off your paws, if he will allow us too. But I wager he will. So, can we go see him?"

The Badger headmistress stood and said. "Sure, follow me."

_*Jason at the same time*_

Jason was currently busying himself with repacking his duffel bag, making sure to take care of and refold each and every piece of clothing. After he had put that deer and wolf in their places with his fist he had gone to the little room he would be staying in until they kicked him out at 18. He casually unpacked his bag, a small smile on his face as he did so. It had felt so good to hurt those two assholes, when they first came up and began insulting him he had been content to wait them out. Banking on his casual non reactions to cause them to get bored. But, when they brought his mom into the equation…it was time to put them in their place, and he did so casually.

Jason wasn't concerned with getting in trouble for it either. He wasn't answering the headmistresses questions on what had happened, and he knew the other two were to ashamed of getting their asses so casually handed to them by a fox that they weren't answering them either. So she would have to look at the security footage and there was no way to refute what would be shown.

Nevertheless, after Jason unpacked his bag he went out and kept out of the headmistresses line of sight while keeping his ears tuned into to her doings. Then when the lion General walked in with his two associates his curiosity was peaked immediately. Though it would never show, partly because he didn't really know how to.

When he quickly became the topic of discussion and the General coming to collect him curiosity became interest. Once they went to go look at the footage Jason turned and went to repack his bag. He didn't even know what exactly the General's collecting of him would entail but he knew it would be much better than staying in this place. At the very least it would be much more interesting.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done!
> 
> Next time on RHO! Jason meets the General for the first time and ends up making a decision he will regret for the rest of his life and gets to meet the mad hyena.
> 
> I have two other stories, A Father Figure and A True Brother: The Prologue, if you haven't read these stories of mine go check them out! Also go check out my friends BrutusDeagon and Tamiri-chan's stories as well!
> 
> All right I think that was it! So this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!


End file.
